


Things worth smiling at

by DryadGurrl



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-07
Updated: 2015-11-07
Packaged: 2018-04-30 09:58:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5159507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DryadGurrl/pseuds/DryadGurrl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From a tumblr writing prompt challenge, approximately a thousand words of sheer, cavity-inducing domestic fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Things worth smiling at

“Have I entered an alternate universe or did you really just crack a smile for me?” Steve asked, shouldering the door closed behind him, grocery bags in hand, the move careful, even practiced, something that was pretty much down to muscle memory at that point.  
Bucky's brow furrowed, eyeing him from the couch, fingers marking his place in the book in his lap, "What? I smile at things, Steve." The tone was more confused than defensive, and that was an improvement over the way things had been when Bucky had first moved in. Things could still be rocky from time to time, but they were finally starting to level out.

"You know what I've seen you smile at this week?" Steve asked, setting the groceries down on the counter, "Stray cats." As a point of fact, Steve had a preliminary sketch of Bucky sitting on the fire escape with a cigarette between the fingers of one hand, and the other hand scratching one of the neighborhood strays under the chin. Most of them had taken a liking to him and Steve wasn't going to say anything against it, as he never saw Bucky relax as much as he did when they were around. "Actual cats _and_ the band."

"It's good music." Now that one was a little defensive, as if he thought Steve might think otherwise, prepared to defend the music if necessary.  
"Okay, I'll give you that one." Steve smiled, giving a little shrug, even while leaning back on his hands against the edge of the counter, "Then you smiled at Darcy when she punched that guy in the face."  
"Hey, she warned him!" She'd warned him twice, actually, which was more than Steve would have, and she'd borne his reaction with grace, and a cheerful: 'I warned you, dude.'

"You also smiled at Sam's pancakes, but that's fair, they're almost as good as my ma's were." Steve shook his head then, finally pushing away from the counter to start putting the groceries away, "But me? Nah, you don't smile at me like that."

The silence from the other room stretched, and continued stretching to the point where Steve started to worry that he'd said something _actually_ wrong, that Bucky was going to vanish for hours, or days, as he had so often at the beginning. He was so wrapped up in worry, so insulated by that concern that he actually startled -nearly dropping the jar of peanut butter he'd been putting away- when Bucky's arms slipped around his waist from behind, "I smile at you, Stevie." The voice was quiet, a half-puzzled murmur against the spot between his shoulders, Bucky's forehead resting against the back of his neck, "You're just always looking the other way, that's all. Didn't know you didn't know. Didn't know it bothered you."

Steve twisted around in Bucky's grasp, not pulling away, just turning so he could actually see Bucky's face, "Hey, Buck, no, it's not like that." He shook his head, running the backs of his knuckles along the line of Bucky's jaw, "I miss it, yeah, you used to smile at me a _lot_ , but I just like seeing you smile, doesn't matter if it's at me or at something else." He shook his head a little, "And I was mostly joking anyway, apparently I sounded more serious than I meant to."

"I _was_ smiling at you, though." Bucky replied, tilting his head just a little into the brush of Steve's fingers, "Wondering when the hell you got so domestic and what the hell I did to deserve you." It was Steve's turn to smile, a crooked, lopsided little thing that was very nearly the Steve Rogers Smiling Because He's Sad smile, "Me being domestic is nothing new, I used to hound you about leaving dirty socks on the floor." Bucky's response was automatic, a quiet scoff, shaking his head and leaning back a little so he could actually focus on Steve's face, "And you _still_ can't wash a dish to save your life."

There was a startled silence from both of them for a moment, as there usually was when Bucky remembered something so easily, as if the information had been there all along. It was a silence that was broken by a bright, half-barked laugh from Steve, the former lopsided smile gone to something broad and open, "Yeah, I know, I _know_ , and there's even a machine for it _right there_."  
"Exactly," Bucky replied, his own smile emerging again, "You've got no excuse, Rogers."

Steve smiled again, leaning in to press a kiss to Bucky's temple, a gesture that was met with a quiet, mostly-amused: "Think you missed." Steve's reply, leaning back against the edge of the counter more comfortably, drawing Bucky with him, was: "Oh yeah? You think so?" Followed by a kiss to the wing of Bucky's nose.

This got a faux-exasperated sigh and an equally faux-sarcastic: "Jesus, Stevie, do I need to draw you a map?" Steve was trying not to laugh, though he was still smiling broadly as he gave a one-shouldered shrug in reply, "Maybe you should."  
"Yeah? Maybe I will." Was the quick reply, though Bucky didn't do any such thing, instead he snaked a hand up against the back of Steve's neck, pulling him into a proper kiss, deep and thorough, finally drawing away when he had to breathe. His forehead was still resting against Steve's, lips barely brushing the other man's as he asked: "There anything in those bags that's going to spoil if it's left out for a while?"

Steve just shook his head, jostling Bucky's as he did so, "No perishables today."  
It was Bucky's turn to smile, pressing another quick kiss to Steve's mouth, "Good. Because I'm gonna draw you that map." This was punctuated with a scrape of his nails through the short, fine hairs at the nape of Steve's neck, something that sent a shiver down his spine the same way it always had, "Yeah?" The question was only a little breathless, swallowing reflexively a moment later.

Bucky grinned outright, finally straightening, "Yeah." He said, tugging carefully away from Steve's hold, but catching his wrist to lead him away.

And Steve? Well, Steve was just going to let him.


End file.
